For those not in the know, New Mexico-based Americana/roots-rock singer-songwriter Michael Rudd is set to release his fourth studio album, Midnight at Dawn, on September 25th, 2026, via Invisible Road Records.

As he did on his three prior releases – Long Way from Paradise (2024), Going to the Mountain (chosen by Americana Highways Readers’ Poll as a Top Ten Album of 2025), and Ways of the World (2026) – Rudd writes and sings about people searching for meaning and understanding about who they are and how they arrived at this moment in time.

His songs are about desperation and joy, mortality and love, mental illness and loneliness, forgiveness and redemption. Rudd continues to focus on characters who live on the margins and closest to his heart.

“They don’t give up hope, and they don’t give up on themselves,” explains Rudd. “They still push the stone up the hill, even if it’s all they can do.”

1. Chained to a Stone [03:32]
2. Turn the Light Down Low [04:47]
3. Made It Out of Jersey [05:57]
4. Springtime in Auschwitz [04:44]
5. Carry Me Home [07:14]
6. Leave Now [06:19]
7. Don’t Try to Save Me [03:47]
8. Let Me Hold You [06:36]
9. I’ll Be There For You [03:51]
10. Time is a Heavy Weight [05:13

With a seemingly never-ending array of new songs coming to him during his sleep cycles, and then eventually at all hours of the day and night, those ongoing musical experiences having since been turned into new albums, Rudd continues to cultivate them in much the same vein here when opening on the effortlessly alluring textures of Chained to a Stone and the melodiously-charged Turn the Light Down low, before we are gifted the stoically-hued, Dylan-esque Made It Out of Jersey, the gently emotive nuances of Springtime in Auschwitz, and the low key hushed balladry of Carry Me Home.

Along next is the affectingly sculpted Leave Now which is in turn backed seamlessly by the rhythmically alluring, heart on the sleeve Don’t Try to Save Me and the dulcetly phlegmatic Let Me Hold You, with the new set rounding out on the wistfully ardent I’ll Be There for You, coming to an all-too-soon close on the blues-imbibed, Americana-soaked, troubadour imparted Time is a Heavy Weight.

Musicians:
Michael Rudd, vocals, acoustic and electric guitar
Pat Malone, electric guitar (lead)
Mark Clark, drums and percussion
Kevin Zoernig, piano on Made It Out of Jersey and Rhodes piano on I’ll Be There For You
Susan Hyde Holmes, upright and electric bass
Brant Leeper, Hammond organ, clavinet, and piano

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